Diplomatic Immunity !

An interesting row has broken out in Canberra testing the limits of " Diplomatic Immunity ".   China is enlarging it's mission in Australia and this involves extensions to the existing Chinese embassy.  Embassies are sensitive places these days and China has been granted permission to bring in a team of Chinese workers to carry out the work - as a " security " measure !

What that really means is that the Chinese want to keep the fitting out of the embassy in safe hands - to prevent the installation of " bugs " being hidden away behind new walls and fittings and providing a security nightmare for future embassy staff.

The thirty workers involved have been observed ignoring Australian Occupational Health and Safety laws  ( OH&S ) by not wearing the required safety helmets and fluorescent vests - and in particular - digging trenches without shoring up to prevent cave-ins.    OH&S requires any trench more than 1.5 metres in depth to be reinforced to protect workers.

The etiquette of " Diplomatic Immunity " prevents safety officers or union officials from entering the site, and this is like waving a red flag in front of a bull to the union movement.    When a country is granted land on which to site an embassy, that land becomes in the eyes of the law identical to that of the soil of the country granted occupation.   Essentially, it is  not subjected to the laws of the country in which it is located.

A fugitive granted asylum in that embassy is safe from the police as they can not enter onto embassy property without permission, and embassy staff granted " political immunity " can not be arrested or made to pay fines for breaching the laws of the host country.

Such is the situation of Julian Assange in London.  He is safe while ever he remains within that foreign embassy, but would face immediate arrest should he step outside it's boundary.   During the " Cold war ",   some defectors spent years secreted away in foreign embassies, safely out of reach of those who wished to do
them harm.

This is a storm in a tea cup.    The laws are quite clear.   These Chinese workers are free to abide by the work laws of their own country and have no obligation to apply the laws of Australia to the work they are doing here - because it is deemed that they are working on their own country's soil.

What is unclear is how these workers would fare if they broke Australian laws off site and in their own time.   Diplomatic Immunity is usually only conferred on ambassadors and their staff.  Lesser staff do not have this protection.  This usually produces a litany of argumentative duels as authorities try and enforce parking and traffic fines and the culprits hide behind the immunity of the embassy walls.

Long after the embassy work is complete, there will probably be a few matters on the books relating to these " guest " workers !